--- description: The iPhone 6 is pretty tough to crack. Law enforcement isn't happy about that title: The FBI and the NSA Hate Apple's Plan to Keep Your Data Secret image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512cba6e94147273/6986a5b413c79f7b421941b7/iphone-6-privacy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The FBI and NSA Hate Apple's Plan to Keep Your iPhone Data Secret ## Video: iPhone 6 Release Shatters Records Without China’s Help [Watch (HLS stream): iPhone 6 Release Shatters Records Without China’s Help](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cOLvPAZJ.m3u8) (1:23)  _Published 2014-09-22. After only being on shelves for three days, Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plusses, more than the company has ever sold._ by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2014 4:11 PM CUT  A man shows his new iPhone outside Puerta del Sol Apple Store as Apple launches iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on September 26, 2014 in Madrid, Spain. A man shows his new iPhone outside Puerta del Sol Apple Store as Apple launches iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on September 26, 2014 in Madrid, Spain.Pablo Blazquez Dominguez—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2014 4:11 PM CUT Apple released the iPhone 6 with a new, powerful encryption setting that should make it much harder for law enforcement and surveillance groups like the FBI and the NSA from accessing users’ emails, photos and contacts. After the Edward Snowden revelations last year, privacy-minded users may be happy about the new feature, but the [law enforcement community is decidedly not](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/technology/iphone-locks-out-the-nsa-signaling-a-post-snowden-era-.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined"). Speaking at a news conference Thursday, FBI Director James Comey criticized Apple’s encryption, which scrambles information on the new iPhone 6 using a code that could take “more than five-and-a-half years to try all combinations of a six-character alphanumeric passcode with lowercase letters and numbers,” as Comey said. Comey accused Apple of creating a means for criminals to evade the law, [the New York _Times_ reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/technology/iphone-locks-out-the-nsa-signaling-a-post-snowden-era-.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined"). “What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to hold themselves beyond the law,” he said. In kidnapping cases, when seizing content on a phone could lead to finding a victim, Comey said there would be times when victims’ parents would come to him “with tears in their eyes, look at me and say, ‘What do you mean you can’t'” decode the contents of a phone, the _Times_ reports. A senior official told the [_Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/technology/iphone-locks-out-the-nsa-signaling-a-post-snowden-era-.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined") that terrorists could use the iPhone 6 to store their data and evade law enforcement. “Terrorists will figure this out,” along with savvy criminals and paranoid dictators, one senior official predicted. Another said, “It’s like taking out an ad that says, ‘Here’s how to avoid surveillance — even legal surveillance.'” However, major U.S. tech companies like Apple and Google argue that they can’t do business if customers believe their data isn’t secure, particularly in foreign markets like China and Europe, where consumers fear American tech products might come pre-loaded with ways for American surveillance agencies to access their data. On top of that, a security expert told the [_Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/technology/iphone-locks-out-the-nsa-signaling-a-post-snowden-era-.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined") that law enforcement complaints about Apple’s encrypted were likely exaggerated, as access to call logs, email logs, iCloud, Gmail logs, as well as geolocation information from phone carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless and other data is relatively unfettered, particularly if police get a warrant. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/technology/iphone-locks-out-the-nsa-signaling-a-post-snowden-era-.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined")\] ### PHOTOS: The Rise of Mobile Phones from 1916 to Today  1916 A German field telephone station in the Aisne department of northern France during World War I. Paul Thompson—FPG/Getty Images  1970 French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday in a scene from the film 'Point de Chute' (aka 'Falling Point'). Keystone/Holton/Getty Images  1980 An early mobile phone during the Iranian Embassy siege at Princes Gate in South Kensington, London. Kypros/Getty Images  1983 Bob Maxwell, general manager of Englewood-based Mobile Telephone of Colorado, places a call on an FCC-approved radio frequency while driving to work. Lyn Alweis—Denver Post/Getty Images  1986 THE A-TEAM "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" Episode 5\. (l-r) Eddie Velez as Frankie Santana, Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell, George Peppard as John 'Hannibal' Smith. Bill Dow—NBC/Getty Images  1992 Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton talks on a cell phone while meeting with Boston Mayor Ray Flynn in a New York hotel on Sept. 25. Mark Lennihan—AP  1993 Whoopi Goldberg during ShoWest in Las Vegas. Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images  1997 A farmer with his family sitting on a Bullock Cart and talking on a mobile Phone, in Delhi. India Today Group/Getty Images  2001 A woman watches smoke pour out of the World Trade Center Towers in New York on September 11. Nicholas Goldberg—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images  2011 A rebel militiaman speaks on his mobile phone after capturing territory from government troops on March 25 in Ben Jawat, Libya. John Moore—Getty Images  2011 A youth films the aftermath of tear gas police fired at protestors in Muhammed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square on November 23 in Cairo. Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images  2012 Audience members take pictures of President Barack Obama at Florida Atlantic University on April 10 in Boca Raton, Florida. Marc Serota—Getty Images  2014 A teenager takes a selfie in front of Queen Elizabeth II during a walk around St. Georges Market in Belfast. The Queen has apparently voiced her dismay that when she carries out engagements she is greeted by a sea of mobile phones. Peter Macdiarmid—PA Wire/Press Association Images/AP ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3437222/iphone-data-encryption/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3437222/iphone-data-encryption/"},"headline":"The FBI and NSA Hate Apple's Plan to Keep Your iPhone Data Secret","datePublished":"2014-09-27T16:11:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:45:42.148Z","description":"Apple made the iPhone 6 pretty difficult to crack. Law enforcement isn't happy about that","url":"https://time.com/3437222/iphone-data-encryption/","keywords":["Tech","Technology","privacy","National Security"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512cba6e94147273/6986a5b413c79f7b421941b7/iphone-6-privacy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512cba6e94147273/6986a5b413c79f7b421941b7/iphone-6-privacy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Apple Inc. Launches iPhone 6 And iPhone 6 Plus Smartphones In Madrid","caption":"Apple Inc. Launches iPhone 6 And iPhone 6 Plus Smartphones In Madrid","creditText":"Pablo Blazquez Dominguez—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3437222/iphone-data-encryption/","name":"The FBI and NSA Hate Apple's Plan to Keep Your iPhone Data Secret"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"iPhone 6 Release Shatters Records Without China’s Help","description":"After only being on shelves for three days, Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plusses, more than the company has ever sold.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cOLvPAZJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-22T17:33:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cOLvPAZJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3437222/iphone-data-encryption/","duration":"PT1M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3437222/iphone-data-encryption/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```